


the "more" in monday mornings

by bunboy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional Tags As We Go, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Shiro is a tired mess, They are HUGE dorks, biology major shiro, lance is a barista, you know how it goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 08:51:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20337421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunboy/pseuds/bunboy
Summary: this started as a twitter ficlet that i polished a bit, so I'm not sure when I'm getting back to it, but my friend seki (@mousousousou on twitter) made some damn cute fanart that you can check out in the meantime, thank you so much for that ♥ https://twitter.com/mousousousou/status/1034506786022154242?s=20





	the "more" in monday mornings

Lance is real good at organizing his school life and Shiro is a hot mess who eats dry cereal to lunch and survives on coffee [and tequila].  
Lance helps out in the coffee shop on campus for some pocket money and finds Shiro multiple times asleep over some books and cold coffee in a quiet corner of the shop. He remembers him from the bib where he's seen him asleep in some armchairs before too. He takes pity on the poor, stressed out guy and brings him some fresh coffee to the table whenever he has some time to spare. The confused look on Shiro's face is worth it when he wakes up to a cup of hot coffee pressed to his cheek and checks his surroundings confused and a little flustered, but he takes it nonetheless after hesitating for a moment.

Lance keeps observing him every time he's in the shop and his curiosity is piqued enough to go to the bib more to catch Shiro asleep in an armchair. He wonders if the guy even sleeps in his own bed at all. Lance finds out he's probably a biology major, telling from the books scattered around him. Lance picks one up that has fallen to the floor in the mess Shiro has caused while sleeping on the table on top of his study material and, without thinking, opens it to the first page with the stamp from the library displaying the names of whoever had borrowed the book. "Takashi Shirogane" is messily scribbled in on the bottom of a long list of names and Lance grins to himself. 

"Takashi, huh?" he muses to himself quietly. 

"It's Shiro" The gruff voice from below startles him and he almost drops the book again in his shocked flailing. 

Lance fixes his eyes on 'Shiro', who's rubbing the sleep from his eye sockets with a yawn. His black circles indicating he hadn't slept in days and his hair a total mess. Nevertheless, Lance was out of breath at how he still managed to look this good.. Good being an understatement of a full on gay panic because fuck. He's totally hot with the sleep drunken voice and all. Lance chuckles panicked, trying to sound like he's not thinking just that, and puts the book down completely embarrassed. 

"Sorry, it fell down and curiosity kills the cat, I guess." Shiro just stares at him for a moment, squinting, clearly still sleepy but he suddenly smiles. 

"So you're the secret coffee guy!", Shiro says with sudden realization looking at Lance's coffee shop apron. 

Oh God, if the floor could swallow him up, now would be the perfect time. Lance laughs nervously and worries the hem of the apron. 

"You could say so.. My name is Lance. I guess it's only fair to let you know. Sorry for snooping, I've just seen you around a lot and you looked like.. you could need the caffeine.. Since we don't serve pillows.." 

Shiro laughs softly at that and leans back in the bench seat from his previous sleeping position on the table, stretching his limbs. 

"Thank you, Lance", he says while looking a bit sheepish. "I'll pay for them, I think I caused enough trouble for you."  
Lance almost missed what Shiro said while staring at him stretching. But Shiro is already rummaging through his backpack and taking his wallet out. 

"Oh, oh no, don't worry about it! I'm fine, it's no big deal, It's on me, I can drink as much coffee as I want here and it would be rude of me to expect you to pay for what you didn't even order in the first place anyways."  
Shiro seems to contemplate that but it doesn't stop him from going through his wallet.  
"Then consider this a tip for taking care of me." He smiles and shoves a bunch of bucks in Lance's hand, Lance too caught up in processing if what he just said was real. Taking care of Shiro? Oh, Lance would do a much better job at taking care of him than feeding his sleep deprivation if he could.

"Aand I'm late for my lecture." Lance watches how Shiro tries to smooth his hair back, unsuccessfully, and sighs deeply. Lance can see the stress and exhaustion on his face settle in once more. He can't help but feel bad for him and worry. It was kind of cute and fun to watch Shiro fall asleep and drool on his papers but now that he got a closer look, the guy is beyond tired. But he can't quite bring himself to ask awkward questions about why that is, disregarding the obvious. There are dozens of students here who are sleep deprived and basically walking zombies every day in the shop, it's just kind of what college does to some people. But he truly hasn't seen anyone sleep in random spots this consistently. Lance mostly works in the afternoon or evenings due to his own schedule and having such a loyal costumer outside of break or lunch time is unusual enough. He keeps quiet tho, he doesn't want to be rude. He realizes he's just standing there like an idiot while Shiro packs his things in a hurry. 

"Uh, thank you, Shiro, but.. Can I do anything else for you? Like a relaxing tea for you to take home?"  
Shiro stops in his tracks and turns around. He's standing now and he's tall, totally not making Lance swoon, no..  
Shiro stares at him again, then smiles coyly while patting around his jacket. 

"I might have something in mind."   
Apparently he found what he was searching for in his pocket and pulls out a pen, then takes a napkin from the dispenser on the table and scribbles something on it. Lance watches in confusion. He can't read it from afar and Shiro is already folding it up and putting his backpack on. 

"Sorry if it's too much to ask for." he shoves the napkin into Lance and is already making his way out the shop.   
"I gotta go now, thank you, Lance, I owe you!" He's out the door and sprinting down the campus before Lance can even say goodbye. Thoroughly confused, he opens the napkin and flushes red all over. In the same scribbly handwriting, it reads  
"Barista to go" and a phone number beneath. Lance can't help but grin like an idiot and tries his best to contain a giddy flail of his arms.

Shiro is running all the way until he's around the corner of the next building just to hide the fact that his face was heating up dangerously back there. Takashi. He woke up to a literal angel calling him Takashi. Not just because of the fact he held his beloved caffeinated savior in form of a liquid baverage in his hands. Or the fact that what he just did was absolutely outrageously stupid and cheesy made it even worse to keep a straight face but GOD, wait, he really did that? Must be the sleep deprivation finally getting to his brain. He wondered for so long how the hell he always woke up to a cup of hot coffee just like he wanted it, when he hadn't ordered any and when it turned out to be the cute barista he went to the coffee shop to ogle at out if the corner of his eyes when he "just wanted to rest his face on the table for a minute", his chest filled with pure adoration at how sweet that simple action was, he somehow pulled this napkin stunt without even thinking about it. What if he just wanted to be nice because it's his job and what if Shiro just came on way too strong or even made him uncomfortable? Oh God, he already was a mess and probably a big bother with how much time he spent in the shop just falling asleep and taking up space. Or maybe he wasn't all that subtle stealing glances across the shop as he thought. Shiro spent probably another 20 minutes in front of the building just having a crisis before he could compose himself enough to go to his lecture, fashionably way too late.

Lance doesn't know what to do.  
He has another shift at the coffee shop this evening and he's honestly not so sure how to approach Shiro. Does he text him before he goes to work? What should he even text? Just a simple 'hey, this is Lance'? The note Shiro gave him suggested that the mood was flirty and Lance could do flirty or he wouldn't be working here and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested in tall, buff and sleepy. Or should he wait until Shiro showed up again and tell him when he's free? Oh God, but that would mean he was asking for a date or something.. Maybe Shiro just wanted to fool around?  
He settled on texting him something short but equally sweet that he considered should be something in the middle of the two.

Of course Shiro woke up late for his first class today and didn't even have time for breakfast, not to mention to put on some decently matching clothes. He left the dorm with the wrong books and dropped the only drink he managed to grab from a vending machine while grazing someone in the hallway. RIP disgusting instant coffee. And of course he forgot to put his phone on silent during his classes.

'hey shiro, your order should be ready to go at 8 tonight ;)'  
\- lance'

The message made Shiro want to throw his phone across the room in hysteria, mostly because of the emoji staring at him. He was definitely not prepared for that. Happy, but definitely completely dressed like an idiot and mentally.. still mourning his instant coffee, but most importantly COMPLETELY not prepared to see Lance and look him in the eyes knowing that he read this dumb napkin and TYPED THIS MESSAGE. He wasn't as confident as this napkin. Sad putting it like this, but true. How did a gorgeous, all smiles and good skin and kind and dazzling guy like Lance even have interest in a drooling mess like Shiro? Suddenly he was painfully aware of how bad he must've looked the day before with sleep marks on his face and messy hair, unshaved and unshowered, let's be real. And today wasn't much better per se..  
He quickly gathered his books and run to his dorm to at least take a shower and put on some fresh clothes before heading out to the coffee shop.

Lance began his shift preparing a bag of tea samples from the shop. All sleepy and relaxing tea blends he could find and his favorite vanilla and honey chai. Shiro couldn't JUST drink coffee all day, right?.. Right? Shiro didn't reply yet so he wasn't sure if he even had time but if he didn't show up, Lance at least had a good bag of comfort to take home tonight. Which he figured he could need after being on edge all day whenever the door chimed and a new customer came in who could potentially be sporting a white tuft of hair.  
But the day went by without a trace of him and Lance felt the pang of disappointment when he waited for another 10 minutes to pack his things and leave. But eventually he says goodbye and swallows the lump in his throat, mainly for even letting his feelings get the better of him and hope. He swings the door open to leave and open his umbrella due to the rain that had started coming down and crashes straight into the mass of a person.

"Oh thank God, you're still here." Shiro's standing in front of him, drenched and breathing like he just ran across the campus. "Woah, Shiro" Lance immediately lights up and Shiro seems to do the same, but quickly changes to looking guilty. 

"I'm sorry, Lance, didn't mean to make you wait, I'm an idiot and was kind of panicking and then I got into a fight with my roommate because I left a big mess and then I couldn't find my phone charger and couldn't text you because my battery was dead." A pause. "I mean. I'm sorry I'm late" He smiles apologetically and Lance can't help but laugh. This guy was more than he expected, but the disappointment dissolves to relief. 

"Hey to you too?" Lance replies and Shiro seems to relax a bit at that and breathes out a laugh, all while looking at the floor and rubbing his neck sheepishly.   
Lance uses the opportunity to check him out. Shiro is dressed in a dark gray hoodie with a leather jacket on top and some black jeans with a few holes in it. On his feet are some plain, white high tops. He didn't even bother wearing the hood over his head to protect himself from the rain, some strands of hair now sticking to his forehead, leaving droplets of water to run down his temples and Lance is absolutely fucking smitten.

"You're gonna get sick, you know. Good thing I got you." He opens the umbrella and holds it out for Shiro to take, then rummages through his shoulder bag to retrieve the bag of tea.   
"There, a little something for that mess" Lance winks and gives the bag to Shiro, who looks like a deer caught in headlights. 

"Oh, are you sure? What is it? I don't. I don't have anything for you though.. and I already owe you. Wow, I suck, why did you agree to this", he says it with a hint of sarcasm but Lance catches the nervousness in his voice nevertheless. He can't help but want to tease him, though.

"Hm, maybe you just need someone to take care of you" Lance gives his most angelic smile and hooks his arm into Shiro's playfully while nudging an elbow into his side.  
"It's a bag of tea samples from the shop. I thought maybe you'd like to try something other than coffee for a change, since your most recent order caught me a little off guard as well."  
Shiro chuckles but obviously does a bad job at hiding his embarrassment. Poor guy can't even defend himself with his hands full, Lance thinks to himself amused, but he doesn't seem to mind the close proximity.

"Thank you, that's very mindful of you" Shiro teases back in a sarcastic tone.   
"But really, I didn't expect you to text me, if I'm honest." Lance loosens his grip on him a bit to look at his face, giving him a questioning look.   
"You know, I thought maybe it was a bit rash, I didn't make the best first impression.. Or.. Multiple ones if we count the times I was completely oblivious to the fact that you brought me coffee when I was.. being messy and you probably had to wipe my drool off the table. And now I was late and you even have a gift for me, I'm a bit of a lost cause.." Lance chuckles at that and smacks his arm lightly.

"Oh believe me, it was a joy watching you sleep like a baby."

"Hm, Watching me sleep now, huh"

"Okay, don't get your hopes up there, now"   
Please do, Please do, Lance thought but kept talking while looking at a spot on Shiro's chest. 

"I've seen you in the library a few times" a lot of times. "I guess I got a little curious and.. You seemed nice. Why not? I got you coffee a dozen times for a reason, I don't usually just.. Do that for every cute guy that falls asleep in the shop." he lifts his blue eyes to his and Shiro wants to choke and die right here and now, he honestly doesn't deserve even being here and holding his arm, much less look into these dazzling eyes. He couldn't find anything to argue against that so he just lets his obviously flushed face speak for himself and starts moving and pulling Lance along softly. 

"I don't know where you live in the dorms but I'll bring you to your room if you want...and not just because you have an umbrella, I'm already drenched."  
"Oh, sure, what a gentleman" Lance laughs.  
"If you want, we could try one of the teas? I can show you how to prepare it, since your order specified you wanted a barista to go, might as well use that" Lance teases again with a smirk and Shiro just moves the umbrella away from Lance for a moment, making him squeal and latch onto his arm more to get back under. Shiro barks with laughter and Lance does too but not without pouting a bit in embarrassment. Shiro's heart almost leaps out of his chest. Is he gonna be able to survive this evening? God knows, his heart is weak, but he agrees. 

Lance's dorm room is not too far from his own, just two blocks down, surprisingly. He's never seen Lance around here but then again, he doesn't spend much time outside of classes, the library or the coffee shop. It's clean inside and quite cozy. They even have a tiny, ancient looking couch and a small coffee table squeezed into a space next to a tall window and Shiro settles into it when Lance gestures to it and goes to prepare the tea. The tea already smelled amazing from inside the bag but now that Lance opened a package, the room fills with a warm, inviting scent. Shiro feels himself relaxing already. Lance watches him from the corner of his eyes and smiles to himself. Hunk would be losing his mind if he told him that he was making tea of all things for a literal Adonis sitting on their couch. How soft had he become? He puts two cups of the tea on a tablet along with a snack and carries it to the sofa..to the other snack. Lance has to be careful to not say any stupid things like this out loud, he muses.. Shiro gives thanks and inhales deeply. 

"It smells so good", he says with a sigh. Lance wants to implode. 

"Thank you, it's my favorite one, my friends are probably sick of it by now so I'm happy to have found another victim", he cackles. "I'll get you a towel, you look like a wet dog", he says and disappears into the room next to the entrance. 

"Hopefully I don't smell like one", Shiro laughs but there's some self-consciousness to it, as though he just remembered the state he's in, and Lance wants to bite his tongue off in an attempt to keep his mouth shut. Now that they're in an enclosed space, and with how wet Shiro is, he smells even more heavenly, especially his hair. He figured he must've come fresh out the shower too. Lance doesn't even want to ask if he needs a change of clothes, but he snatches a pair of joggers and another hoodie from Hunk's laundry, figuring his own clothes would never fit Shiro. If it wasn't obvious before, the wet hoodie clinging to his chest left little to the imagination. 

"I'll lend you some clothes from my friend. He's my roommate, he won't mind and he's more.. You know. Bigger than I am." Lance gestures at himself and Shiro makes a face Lance can't quite put but he thanks and goes to pull the hoodie over his head before thinking better of it and excusing himself to the bathroom. Lance immediately mourns the look of tight fit black jeans on Shiro as soon as he steps out of the bathroom again with the towel wrapped around his neck. But it's all well when he sees the sheepish look on Shiro's face, not quite sure what to think of the situation. Gosh what a dork. Lance tries to smile and pats the space on the sofa next to him.   
"You're welcome."  
Shiro sits down and Lance puts a cup in front of him. 

"Now try it."  
Shiro takes the cup and nips at the now more cooled off baverage.   
It's smooth with honey and immediately clouds his senses with warmth and comfort. He keeps his face close to the cup to warm his cheeks on the steam caused by his breathing. It feels good and he can feel his shoulders relax and cave in. It's only now that he realizes how tense he's been and how cold he had gotten from the rain. He almost feels drowsy now. When Lance asks him if it's any good, he just nods content and Lance feels his insides burn with how cute Shiro looks with his hair sticking up. He almost feels proud for being able to be the cause of a comfy looking Shiro after seeing him uncomfortably bent in an armchair or on a table in order to sleep. The silence is comfortable but Lance is someone who's never been quite familiar with silences and he's curious so he asks anyways.

"So.. Do you actually sleep at home once in a while?"  
Shiro slowly puts the cup down and watches the tea swirl around inside. 

"Good question", he smiles, but his expression turns thoughtful. "Not much anyways, but I'm used to it."  
Lance gets flooded with the desire to hug Shiro and wrap him in a blanket.

"You don't like the romance of college life that much?" Lance asks instead.

"Ah, it's not that I don't like it, I'm just.. Badly fit for it and my roommate keeps me on my toes, so to say."

"So to say?" Lance is scooting closer even tho Shiro seems to try and tiptoe around the topic. Eventually he sighs, defeated. 

"Well, he's a good guy but we fight a lot. I can't sleep well at night and keep myself up and sometimes can't function properly because of it and it irritates both of us so we get into arguments." Shiro is rubbing the back of his neck and looking away, feeling embarrassed but also kind of relieved. "I know it's dumb but I can sleep better when I'm focused on something or when there's people around, but I can't keep studying at night or my roommate will literally kick my ass. Ahh, I don't know why I'm even telling you this." Shiro is hiding his face in his hands and rubbing his eyes in frustration or to keep himself awake. The sudden transition from flirty smiles and calming smells to the reality of his everyday life is something he usually tucks away under some self-deprecating humor.   
"It's super lame."

Lance's stomach makes a funny thing because as much as he acknowledges the distant look in Shiro's eyes that don't quite meet his own, that gesture sent his heart out the window of a skyscraper into a pool of sticky goo.

"It's not lame", he tries, putting a soothing hand on Shiro's shoulder, which is enough to make him lift his head and look at him, contemplating.   
"It's not your fault if you can't sleep. To be honest, I wouldn't know if I could even survive a day without constantly whining when I don't get my 6 to 8 hours of sleep, so I think you're doing decently." Shiro looks at Lance like he's deep in thought and Lance tries a smile and nods encouragingly, like he's trying to get him to agree. 

"I ate a sandwich from 2 days ago for lunch today."

Lance's smile cracks and he blinks a few times in disbelief. Shiro nods like the suspicions in his head were right. 

"Last week, I mixed the bottle of milk with the bottle of vodka in the fridge and poured it in my cereal. And. I ate it." He sounds empty, but shrugs with one shoulder. 

Lance's face is frozen in a skeptical grimace. 

"Last week, I got up at 4am one day, showered, then went back to bed and thought it was just a dream, so I was late because I went to shower again." Shiro lifts his brows and rolls his eyes like he's not talking about himself.

"Stop.." Lance says it like he doesn't believe, like Shiro just wants to mess with him, but there's a grin on his face.

"I wore two different pairs of shoes to my first day of classes this year."   
"Oh my god, shut up" Lance is jabbing an elbow into him, playfully. 

"I cried when our coffee machine broke and tried to bury it behind our block when I was drunk on the weekend." Lance is actually hitting him now in a gesture of mock and gapes at him and Shiro falls over on the sofa, laughing. "Then I tried digging it up again because I thought I could fix it and cried again when I didn't find it because my roommate threw it away when I passed out before." Lance laughs out loud now too and collapses half on Shiros side. Imagining Shiro cry because of something this silly is an image he can't quite picture. 

"You have a problem! How do I not know you already?"

"I told you I'm lame!" Shiro says as if that somehow explains how his escapades have gone relatively unnoticed so far. He was a messy drunk..

"Lame? You should be a college legend for this stuff. I thought my group of friends was a chaotic bunch, but you definitely take the cake and I've only known you for a day." He jabs a finger at him and their laughter dies down slowly. 

Lance rests his arms on the back of the sofa, facing Shiro, who in turn pulls up his feet to sit cross legged in front of him.   
Lance seems to study him while he gets comfortable and Shiro soon mimics him by leaning his arm on the sofa's back and resting his head against it.

"Well, I'm glad I got to meet you then, Lance." Shiro doesn't mention that his drunken crying over the coffee machine was the reason he showed up at the coffee shop in the first place.

Lance feels like he's falling out of the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> this started as a twitter ficlet that i polished a bit, so I'm not sure when I'm getting back to it, but my friend seki (@mousousousou on twitter) made some damn cute fanart that you can check out in the meantime, thank you so much for that ♥ https://twitter.com/mousousousou/status/1034506786022154242?s=20


End file.
